Is the Struggle Really Over?

By Broadside Opinion Editor Arthur Gailes

“If Barack Obama is elected president, I don’t want to hear any more complaining about black people’s struggle.”

It’s not verbatim, but it’s a sentiment I heard recently, and one that made me pause. Less than 150 years after the 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery, a black man is the front-runner in the race to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. It’s a race that’s far from won and he’s not guaranteed by any means to become president if he does win. But what if he does?

It’s a testament to how far we’ve come as a society that this is a real possibility, just 40 years removed from the end of legal racial segregation. A black man becoming the face of the United States to the world is a clear sign that we have, at large, overcome the prejudice of our forefathers. But for the general black American population, would anything change?

At the surface, it seems ridiculous to theorize about institutionalized racism against blacks if a black man is president. But one man can’t change the ideology of a nation.

As much as Obama galvanizes blacks and youths with his message, his presidency still sets him as a rarity: a black man in the midst of a power structure that is dominated by, and most beneficial to, whites.

It has often been the case that after a major victory for black American equality, there has been a period of apathetic response to their ongoing plight. After slavery, the sentiment was, “you’re free now, so don’t complain.” After all, a war was just fought to free black Americans.

The same was true after the Civil Rights Movement. When a black man is elected by a predominantly Caucasian-American public, the reaction will likely be much the same.

Obama’s presidential election would inevitably cause us to turn a blind eye to the fact that the poverty rate in minorities is, as of 2006, more than twice that of whites, meaning that more minority children are being raised within the same cycle of poverty and violence that Black Americans have been fighting for more than a century.

According to a study by Howard University, the proportion of black students in majority white schools is lower than at any point since 1968. If segregation is illegal, it is also informal, and most major cities see the large divide between the inner city’s minority majority and the mostly white suburbs.

The progress we’re making towards true equality is at once thrilling and amazing. We, members of one of the most racially diverse schools in the nation, witness this every day. College campuses across the nation have more women than men. The acceptance of homosexuality is considered the property of the enlightened. We continue to mix America’s melting pot, and it’s a beautiful thing to witness.

This should never blind us to the fact that the struggle is not over. No matter who the president is, we have a long way to go to diversify our cities, schools, politicians and demographics.

Obama couldn’t do much to change this even if he were so inclined. It’s up to us to remember that this fight is more than one man deep to continue the struggle, no matter who we vote for.

Most of all, we have to remember that a step in the right direction is not a step across the finish line.